V19

Subjective Visual Sensation during Cataract Surgery

Biró Z, Schwöller M, Juhász S
Medical University of Pécs

Aim: To examine the patient's subjective visual sensations during
cataract surgery performed under peribulbar anaesthesia. Pa-
tients and Methods: 164 patients were interviewed by standard
questionnaire on their visual sensations within one hour after
cataract surgery. Results: Thirty-two patients saw nothing during
surgery, while 132 reported different visual sensations. Of this
group all saw lights of different and changing intensity: 88 pa-
tients saw different colours, 8 patients reported a rainbow-like
scale of colours, while 66 saw clear shapes and forms (mainly
circle, square, rectangle, ellipse). Eighteen patients could see in-
struments, and 9 patients identified the surgeon's fingers. Sixteen
patients have considered the strong light of the microscope very
disturbing and uncomfortable. Seventeen patients made drawings
on their intraoperative visual sensations. Some of these drawings
were showed to the last 71 of the 164 patients before their cata-
ract extraction to help them understand what they might see
during surgery. Conclusions: In accordance with the literature
data, we found no relation between intraoperative visual sensa-
tions and patient's age, sex, preoperative visual acuity or cataract
severity. We found that it is helpful to inform the cataract pa-
tients of potential intraoperative visual sensations before their
surgery.


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